Priorities and available time

How do you choose what to do first when requests exceed the time available?

1250 € per session, excl. VAT

In short

This half-day session of 3 hours introduces simple guidelines for prioritising requests, building a realistic daily schedule and responding to interruptions. Participants practise using a fictional case, compare their decisions on competing priorities and rehearse wording for negotiating a deadline without losing sight of their commitments.

Why this training?

Responding in order of arrival sometimes favours the most visible requests rather than the most important commitments. Distinguishing between the actual deadline, the consequences of a delay and dependencies prevents every request from being treated as urgent. A diary filled without any buffer does not cope well with interruptions. Practising how to estimate a task, protect a time slot and propose an alternative deadline makes decisions on competing priorities explicit, rather than silently accumulating incompatible commitments. Case used throughout: At « Almérive Signalétique », a fictional company, a person must prepare a quotation before midday, check a production file and organise a delivery. At 10 o’clock, a customer correction and an internal request are added. Participants are given the deadlines, the consequences of delays and the estimated durations to inform their decisions. Application at work: During the following week, choose three priorities each morning, reserve a buffer for unforeseen events and note one difference between what was planned and what was achieved. After five days, identify a recurring cause of overruns and adjust either the estimate or the commitment made. Ask your manager to decide on competing priorities when the constraints remain incompatible.

Objectives of this training

  • Identify the interruptions and habits that fragment a working day.
  • Rank requests according to their importance and actual urgency.
  • Build a schedule that fits the time available.
  • Propose a deadline or ask for a decision on competing priorities.
  • Revise your priorities after an unforeseen event, making the consequences explicit.

Who is it for and what are the prerequisites?

Roles and tasks concerned

  • Staff facing several simultaneous requests and closely spaced deadlines.
  • People wishing to set clear boundaries when interrupted by colleagues or customers.

Prior skills

  • No technical prerequisites; the guidelines are introduced gradually.
  • You should be able to describe a working day and its main time constraints.

What you will work on

  1. Observe how your day actually unfolds

    Objective: Distinguish between planned work, incoming requests and fragmented attention. Difference between planned and actual time spent; the cost of resuming tasks; the difference between an imposed interruption and a voluntary change of task.

  2. Decide what comes first

    Objective: Justify the order in which requests are handled rather than following their order of arrival. Importance, urgency, negotiable deadlines and dependencies; questions to ask when every request seems to be a priority.

  3. Build and then revise a schedule

    Objective: Adapt commitments to limited capacity. Breaking down a task, estimating time, grouping small actions, focused work slots and a buffer for unforeseen events.

  4. Negotiate without promising the impossible

    Objective: Respond to a request while protecting priority commitments. Clarify the expected deadline, explain the constraint, propose an alternative and ask for a decision on competing priorities.

What you take away

  • Request-ranking grid with reasons for the priorities assigned.
  • Daily schedule incorporating durations, constraints and a buffer.
  • Wording reference sheet for negotiating a deadline.
  • Personal five-day trial plan.

Method and assessment

  • Short teaching inputs followed by practical simulations and role-plays based on the case used throughout.
  • Structured observation and peer feedback using a shared grid.
  • Guided debrief: what worked, what will be adjusted, individual commitment.
  • Preparation: Note three frequent interruptions and an anonymised example of a conflict between two deadlines. Bring paper or a tool approved by your organisation; no access to confidential files is required.

Observable criteria: The top priorities are justified by a deadline, a consequence or a dependency. ; The schedule fits the time available and retains an explicit buffer. ; The response to an interruption clarifies the need before promising a deadline. ; The proposed decision on competing priorities identifies the postponed task and the consequence of that postponement. ; The personal plan specifies a habit to test and an observation to record..

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to bring your work diary?

No, the fictional case is sufficient. An anonymised extract can help prepare for application at work.

What should you do if all deadlines are fixed?

Make the incompatibilities visible and ask for a decision on competing priorities, without deciding on your own to drop a commitment.

Will you work only with a priority matrix?

No, the ranking is complemented by a schedule and role-plays on interruptions.

Does this approach eliminate excessive workload?

No. It helps distinguish fragmented attention from excessive workload, and then build a case for the necessary adjustments.

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